As we mentioned in March, the Bacon Street bridge in Wellesley near the Natick line has been targeted for repair by the MBTA, and indeed we’ve now learned that the bridge is on the list for design funding this fiscal year.
An MBTA spokesman says the bridge will be designed by Prime Engineers, with the first step being development of a “type study that includes an analysis of at least three types of bridges appropriate for the site.” Once the type is chosen, the MBTA will negotiate the scope and fee to go ahead with the design. The design process should take about 2 years.
“The MBTA will coordinate with the town during design and there will be at least one public meeting,” the spokesman says.
For more on the bridge’s history, check out the Bridge Hunter website.
(Thanks to Natick selectman Josh Ostroff for passing along the initial info on this.)
I certainly hope someone is coordinating this repair with the Natick Marion Street bridge replacement. Since the Marion St bridge was closed in 2012 the traffic volume on Bacon has increased many fold. If this project will disrupt travel on Bacon, the traffic impact will be a disaster and public safety response will be impacted.
A real concern for sure! But there won’t be any overlap in the construction. This is funding for design, so there will be little if any traffic disruption until construction, which realistically is at least a couple of years out. The Marion Street Bridge construction contract was recently awarded; a Notice To Proceed will be issued in a couple of weeks, and the project is estimated to wrap up late 2016/early 2017 – a more firm date will be announced by MassDOT with the NTP.